Student loans, they have very low interest and many financial pros will tell you . . . don't worry about getting rid of these loans. Financial columnists will tell you that having these loans on your credit report will help your credit score. Their advice: just leave this debt alone.

That's cute, real cute -- but here's my argument.

1. I don't like giving away free money. The longer I pay interest on a loan, the longer I'm giving away money that could be growing in my retirement fund (interest coming to me . . .free money to me . . . get it?)

2. The loans are structured so that my last payment happens right when I start helping my kid pay for their college education. Lifelong college debt -- not appealing.

3. It only takes five . . . count'em 5 . . . good years of on-time payments to have earned a good credit score/history with a credit account and show good payment habits. Good accounts stay on your credit record for many years.

What the financial pros don't tell you is all the neat things you can do with your money once you knock out those college loans. You can:

1. max out your retirement account,
2. create an investment plan to gain wealth,
3. fund your down-payment account for a house,
4. fund your grand vacation to Paris,
5. create a college fund for the kids - so they don't have we weighted down with debt as soon as they graduate from college . . . like you.

Let's get aggressive with these college loans. The good news is you have no credit card debt, you have no car payments . . . now you can knock out this debt with an unyielding ferociousness of a barbarian, yet live like the palace royals. Cause guess what? You've knocked out all that other debt. You even have money on the side for those little sneaky "life happens" incidents. Aren't you lucky?

Hey, the possibilities are endless, now that you are out of debt!